All Onboard! Onboarding for New Hire Retention

US Registries – HR On-boarding

Recruiting and hiring the best talent is a rigorous, time-consuming process, and one that can be especially high-stakes when you are a small business in the midst of growing a strong workforce. And if your hiring decision is high-stakes, keeping your talent on-board is critical.

The Cost of Employee Turnover

Employee turnover carries a high cost, much of it hidden from the balance sheets but no less real. According to INC., the cost of losing an employee is roughly 150% of the employee’s annual salary. Some of these hidden losses include:

• Lowered productivity
• Overworked employees
• Replacement hiring, recruiting and training costs

Why Onboarding is Important for New Hire Retention

According to Small Business Trends, onboarding is a “crucial development opportunity.”

• It’s your chance to make a good first impression, establish expectations, and introduce the new hire to the company’s culture.
• A well-structured, organized onboarding program will reassure, not scare away, your new hire.
• Data from WaspBarCode affirms the importance of onboarding: new hires are “58 percent more likely to stay with the organization after three years” when a well-developed onboarding program is in place.

Tips to Keep Your New Hire Onboard

• Have a written onboarding plan and revise it as your company grows and your culture matures.
• Train your onboarders in the onboarding process so that they introduce the new hire to the company in a structured, organized manner.
• Give new hires time to acclimate and learn their position, the company, and culture. Slow and steady wins the race!
• Establish two-way communications. Give your new hire the opportunity to ask questions and clarify information.

A well-crafted  onboarding program provides the long-term benefits of consistent expectations and a cohesive workforce. To start crafting your onboarding program, you can download a Standard Operating Procedure template from North Carolina State University.